Welcome to A Life Examined

What is the examined life? A life worth living! As I look at the road ahead, I take all the baggage from the past and use it as experience - the pain and the passion, the sorrow and the joy - allowing it to carve wisdom into my mind and hope into my spirit.
There is no experience that can't be useful to me at some point in my life. There is no lesson learned that cannot make a contribution to the future.
A tiny drop of water is a part of the ocean. A tiny speck in the night sky is a ginormous star in the distance. It all depends on perspective.
So, this examined life is to offer reflections in the hope of discussing things which are of value to myself and to others.
Love, Sarah






Thursday 24 October 2013

Real Love - My "Perfect" Life - Part 21

Life is long... and lovely. For me it has been a privilege to experience pain and growth. It makes me value what is good in life so much more.

I've written about my upbringing - an ideal circumstance with less than ideal family relationships, not entirely broken but not particularly perfect either. I doubt there is much perfection this side of heaven, but in my case, a distant and disconnected nuclear family made life less than "warm and fuzzy" for me at home.

My life, in its twists and turns, has had golden moments, stunning opportunities and incredible surprises. Much of that began after I met my husband.

When I was 31 I moved to England to study... back up actually to mid twenties when, as a teacher, I made friends with a male university student. We weren't close but we made a good connection. There was no romance but mutual respect and we shared our Faith. There was another distinct feature about him which was that he was Canadian oriental. I lived in a very WASP - white Anglo Saxon (ie of British descent) protestant - community, not by preference but by geography, so I'd never met an oriental person before.

One evening, after he'd been for dinner at my place, I wondered why we were friends. I hadn't thought to ask him outright, but I did pray about it after he'd left.

As answer, I distinctly remember - and this is going back twenty-five years - having an absolutely knowing within me. The clear impression was, 'because one day you will marry an oriental and this is to help you to prepare.'

Fast forward to England and 5 days after moving there I went to church with the family I was staying with temporarily. I was introduced to someone who was looking for a lodger.

The instant I met A I knew I'd met my husband; he was Chinese-looking (he's actually Burmese). But though I had nothing against getting married eventually, I did an emotional runner (away) at that same precise moment. Because what I saw clearly in this attractive man was vulnerability. I immediately mistook the vulnerability for neediness, and I didn't want to cope with a man who was insecure.

But while I was mistaken about his insecurity or neediness, I was not mistaken about his vulnerability. I'd learn soon enough that he'd just gone through a divorce and, naturally, it had hit him hard.

First impressions are, fortunately, not impossible to erase. That man became my friend (I did not become his lodger however) and showed me kindness I had never experienced in my life. As way leads on to way, we eventually fell in love and got married. Therein lies a whole lot of other stories, which I may or may not write about... But my point here is that, I while was prepared for cultural changes and surprises, I was less prepared for love.

My "Perfect" Life is far from perfect, but allowing myself to do a U-turn on my initial impression of A turned my life around from a mediocre life of basic self-sufficiency, to one of hope and joy and love. For me, meeting A caused me to change for the better. And that change has made all the difference.

Until next time, next Thursday, may you see U-turns in your life that make it rosier!!

Gareth Johnson, Photographer

6 comments:

Jeannie said...

Gorgeous photo of 2 beautiful people! Thanks for sharing, Sarah.

Vashtiqvega43 said...

Beautiful and inspirational story Sarah. It filled my heart with joy to read it. Thank you for sharing.

Unknown said...

Beautiful,loved learning this about the 2 of you.x

Sarah Tun said...

Ladies, your affirming words are such a treat. May each of you be truly blessed in your relationships this week.
Thank you for reading and for replying.

Avril Englllish said...

I think your blog is really good. You and your husband look well matched. I understand where you are coming from. It is having pain in life that you learn to cope with whatever is ahead. I too married a man who was divorced and had children but I believe God wanted that we married so that I could help him. Life is not easy but with God's help we can always come through with Him leading the way.

Sarah Tun said...

Hi Avril,
So true isn't it, that when we allow our experiences to teach us and to bring us inner strength, we learn a lot about love and giving. Then we have something to put into others' lives. And sharing our lives with others makes our life so much richer. Thank you for sharing a piece of your life.